Time

I became friends with Duško Vujošević in the fall of 1977. We both enrolled at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade. We went to (mandatory) swimming together and to exercises in Roman law and general history of the state and law. He did not come to lectures. We became close along Montenegrin lines, although he spoke Ekavian. At the time, he was the coach of the Partizan junior team. He was protective of me, even though he was only four months older. He took me to Kalemegdan to watch basketball, to the champites, and showed me around Belgrade. Once, he accidentally stepped on a lady on a tram and quickly apologized.

"Why aren't you watching where you're going?"

"I didn't do it, ma'am," Dule liked to be an authentic Montenegrin in front of me (the "doing" meant that it wasn't intentional).

"What haven't you done, you bastard, so I'm lying?" the lady was furious.

Dule bent down a little, and even at 18 years old he was big-headed, and said quietly but clearly:

"Look, goat, why didn't you shave this morning?"

The lady was speechless, and I was delighted.

In January, on a whim, he passed his general history exam with the strict Dr. Ljubica Kandić and we haven't seen each other since. I called him once to protect my cousin, when he was the coach of OKK Belgrade.

Thirty years later we met in Cetinje, at the Grand Hotel. The Montenegrin national team, of which he was the coach, was there for training, and I was playing chess for Mornar.

He didn't recognize me, nor did he remember the incident on the tram, nor that long-ago autumn. Maybe he didn't want to, who knows, but he seemed sincere...

* * *

After a few years, we spent three days at Ćorić's in Podbišće. And, as always, we were filled with kindness.

* * *

At the exit from Kolašin towards Mojkovac, I was stopped by the traffic police.

"It must be a mistake, I drive slowly, and I only accelerate when I have to, when someone nervous gets behind me."

"There's no mistake, the radar shows you were driving 70, and the speed limit is 50 km/h."

"Okay, so what do we do now?"

"You have to pay the fine."

"What, you're taking an eighth of my pension for this much overdraft?"

"If you pay on the spot, it will be significantly less."

"You lurk where you know no one can drive less than 70 km per hour. Your goal is not to help with traffic, but to fine ordinary people, and I believe you are missing out on those with 'angry' vehicles, relatives and friends."

"We are the same to everyone."

"So, what are you achieving? Someone has blinded these people who slow down and will step on the gas right after the first bend."

"We have special teams that monitor those who are blinded."

I laughed at that, even though I didn't feel like laughing, and the younger of the two policemen said something that knocked all the belligerence out of me:

"We started this conversation in a gentlemanly manner, be a gentleman to the end, because that's how you act."

For a few seconds, only the roar of Tara could be heard...

"Excuse me, let me sign, here are your cards."

* * *

"I'll get old, I won't know...", sang Harris J.

I'm already in my prime, and I haven't learned to throw away a 1,5 volt battery when it's done its job. I keep thinking "it could still be good"... So I pile them up and later I don't know which ones are new and which ones are old. And then I'm surprised that the wall clock only works for two days with "new" batteries.

* * *

Here in front of the Blažo Jokov Orlandić Elementary School, a young mother sends her son off on a bike ride, as if into battle – helmet, jacket, arm and leg guards. I would say he has money, no school, but he gives the right advice at the right time:

"It's important that you don't hit yourself when you throw!"

* * *

The eternal dilemma is: was everything better in the past because it really was better or because we were young, so everything seemed colorful, full of life and optimism? It's true, life is easier today, but some things are missing. There's no, for example, that uncertainty when you go "to town", and then a few hours later you return home and ask your mother at the door: "Did anyone call me?"

* * *

It happens more and more (not only in this blog) that I speak in the first person and that I latently, sometimes openly, brag. I guess that's what a person starts doing when no one asks him about anything and when, objectively, he doesn't matter to anyone, except, perhaps, his family.

On the other hand, it's possible that I've always had a strong ego, I just didn't realize it...

* * *

In another life, I would repeat almost everything the way it was in the first. The only thing is that I would not, at any cost, enroll in Law School again. And I would never, ever again, wish for time to pass as quickly as possible: until I go to school, until I come of age, until the game, until the "dating", until anything. You know what - "I can't wait".

We need to live fully in the present, hour by hour, day by day, because everything passes by at an incredible speed...

* * *

Happy Easter!